Made this yesterday. It’s amazing. I also kneaded by hand. I forgot to look for pearl sugar, so I used very coarse Hawaiin sugar I keep on hand for topping scones. It doesn’t melt completely, so you still get some good crunch.

Since the cardamom in my pantry was probably 20 years old, I bought a fresh bottle of whole cardamom from Whole Foods, and the pods are greenish. Looking on the Penzeys spices website, I see that they carry white Scandinavian style cardamom and green Costa Rican cardamom (also black Indian cardamom.) Does anyone know if there’s a significant difference in flavor among the different types of cardamom?

Thanks for the link. Since reading that the white Scandinavian cardamom is just bleached green cardamom, I’m glad that I bought the green. It was also very fragrant and flavorful…delicious in the bread.

Ignorance:
For the first time I’ve bought “whole” Cardamome seeds. I didn’t know the seeds were inside the pods (I just thought cardamom had big seeds! ihih) and instead of extracting them, I just ground everything in the little food processor)… The Pulla was delicious and no sign of “wooden parts”…luckily!

Question for future use: do you have to take them out the pods or can you use the whole cardamom (seeds + pods)…
Thank you ♥

If I need ground cardamom, I remove the seeds and just grind those (discarding the outer pod). If I’m just infusing a syrup or rice or something, then I’ll gently crack the pod with the back of a knife, add it in whole to infuse flavor and the fish it out before eating or using.

I am interested in doing the same. This bread was fabulous and I would like to make again and bring to a family party.
BTW, I left my wreath to rise for 3 hours (had to go somewhere) and it still came out great.

I decided to just give it a shot. Made the dough after dinner last night, gave it one rise, shaped it into a braid and put it in the fridge overnight (on my baking sheet, loosely wrapped. Pulled it out of the fridge early this morning and let it come to room temp for a little over an hour before baking. Seemed to work great, and I liked it a lot.

I baked today and WOW am I impressed! I didn’t have cardamon and wasn’t sure what to do. Couldn’t find pods or seeds on short notice so I sprung for the very expensive ground cardamon at the store. I am so glad I did — the fragrance and subtle flavor of this bread is outstanding. I made it into two loaves instead of wreath since I wanted to share with neighbors. Now I want to make the wreath …. my continuing love of making bread never ends :) Oh yes — about the pearl sugar – I used Turbinado sugar and it is beautiful. Blessings, ya’ll!

This bread has amazing oven spring. This dough is so easy to work with. I had a terrible time trying to make a bow, so I gave up and wrapped the seam with the two strands. Other than that, this dough is great!